The present invention relates to magnetic resonance brain scanning, and more particularly, to automatic corpus callosum segmentation in magnetic resonance brain images.
Magnetic Resonance (MR) is a well known technique for imaging internal organs of a patient. MR scanners are typically capable of generating cross-sectional images in any plane of the body, including oblique planes. Accordingly, the MR volume data resulting from MR scans can have many possible orientations. In MR brain scanning, the orientation and position of the scanning volumes are typically adjusted manually by experienced MR operators. This process is time-consuming and does not guarantee that all patients are scanned in the same way. Variations in the position and orientation of various MR brain scans can lead to problems with diagnosis when using MR brain images generated from MR brain scans. Thus, automated and consistent MR scan planning is desirable in clinical MR scanning applications.
In conventional MR scanning, scouts/localizers are scans that are acquired first to let MR operators plan the subsequent diagnostic scans. The diagnostic scans typically have a higher resolution and better contrast and are obtained by sequences requiring much longer time. Accordingly, MR operators typically adjust the position and orientation of the scanning for the diagnostic scans with respect to the anatomy of an individual patient in a scout scan. Accordingly, the shape and size of the anatomical structures of a patient's brain is important for determining the position and orientation of the scan. Thus, segmentation of these anatomical structures in MR images is important for implementing automated scan planning. One such anatomical structure that can be useful for automated scan planning is the corpus callosum. However, segmentation of the anatomical structures of the brain, such as the corpus callosum, is a challenging task because of the low-signal-to-noise ratio in MR images, and the variation in the size shape, and appearance of the anatomical structures of the brain.